Driving out to the Harborside Event Center at about 2 am, I had a bad feeling about the 1500 tickets that were being given away for President Obama’s town hall style meeting in Fort Myers, Florida on February 10. As I arrived, it was obvious that I was too late. There were quite a few hundred people already in the line, with their blankets, tents, coolers and everything they needed to stay for the duration; at 9 am the ticket counter opened. Their spirits seemed to be high, because they were going to have an opportunity to see Barack Obama in person. Going with my gut, an injured shoulder and it being a might chilly, I headed back home. I just didn’t think there were going to be enough tickets to go around.
To my surprise, I watched the news this morning and heard that people in positions of 150 to 180 did not receive tickets. Now, I’m no mathematician, but 2 tickets per person from 1500 tickets should mean that people at least to the 700 person mark, should have received their free tickets.
It sadly became apparent that 1500 tickets were never available to the general public. I have no problem with Democratic volunteers receiving tickets, but politicians and news media personnel? The bottom line however is that the people who put out the number of 1500 tickets were wrong in doing so. I know people want to try and blame President Obama for this, but please use your head. Do you think Obama was directly involved with the ticket process for this or any event? I think he has bigger fish to fry. And from what I see in him as a man, he will not be very happy when he does hear about what happened with this ticket fiasco and his trip to Fort Myers. I totally understand the anger and frustration of people that waited for hours, when there was no chance of them receiving tickets.